Sonic Boom: Chaotic Storm
by Kit-Kat015
Summary: Knuckles was someone whom everyone was comfortable not knowing much about. Lucky for him, because he didn't like saying much about himself aside from the basics. He was the type to only hang out with the gang, go on adventures, and not delve too much into his personal life. And it was a dynamic pretty much everyone was comfortable with. No one thought it was for any serious reason.
1. The Legend's Beginning

_The following text found on ancient scriptures are still undergoing precise translation. This is what has been translated by Amy Rose, the person who discovered them, thus far._

 _Before the time of Angel Island and Albion, in the time of the Ancients, our people proudly claimed up to 26% of the world's land, and 4% of its oceans. We, the Olmec Echidnas, became paragons of conquest through ancient magics and our pack-like nature. While the rest of the world slowly advanced around us, we stuck to our ancestral roots. Yet still, the rest of the world could only admit surrender or be frozen in an uncomfortable, tense stand-still._

 _Our only true rivals existed in the hyper advanced civilizations, the Nocturnus Echidnas and the Kistune Foxes, and the Constellan and Terran Hedgehog Clans, who became our only true rivals in magics and pure willpower. In the end, the Nocturnus Tribe disappeared completely... through means no one can truly explain. The Fox Packs and the Hedgehog Clans were non-confrontational, but were successful in their defensive efforts. They became our only true roadblock to further expansion... aside from our own greed and arrogance._

 _In our quest to seek knowledge and power, in the name of expanding our territories, our exploration led upon the discovery of the Ancients and their limitless sources of power. There were numerous different forms of these power sources, but only one caught the interest of our ancestors; the Master Crystalline Ore, commonly referred to as the Master Core in modern society. Among everything the Ancients had created, this powerful artifact fueled by pure chaotic energy was their most powerful asset._

 _The Ancients were a pacifistic people. Though their power was great, they acted only in self-defense. Unlike the Hedgehogs, however, their will and determination to fight back was weak. The leader of the time, Chieftain Pachacamac, ignored the warnings of his daughter Tikal and assaulted the hidden city of the Ancient's domain. The battle was over within the night; their land and power was ours, and last of the Ancients themselves destroyed or sealed away in stasis._

 _In his arrogance, Chief Pachacamac relocated his capital city to that of the Ancients' fallen realm, to maintain control of the Master Core and the abundant crystals that were created from the nigh mythical ore. Those who had relocated enjoyed only five good years of power and prosperity in that new, glorious city._

 _On the first day of the summer season, the reptile followers of the fallen Ancient Lyric lay siege to our great city._

 _The city's defenses barely managed to hold against the unexpected assault, but the attack carried on for several weeks into summer to follow. They had thought they would be able to hold them off at the borders of the city on our own. However, on the day before the summer solstice was to occur, they returned to attack the city again with the help of several canine packs and avian flocks the echidnas had barely considered to be threats._

 _Our people were overwhelmed on all sides. To make matters worse, the reptiles began to bore under the city past the outer walls. Once they were inside, the civilians and the warriors alike were helpless to sheer numbers. In his desperation to save his people and his city from death and ruin, the Chief turned to the Master Core to obtain the power to defeat their enemies. To the horror of his family, his people,and even himself, this decision would only lead to his destruction._

 _And mark the birth of the worst horror our people will ever see._

 _The rest of the text is still undergoing translation._


	2. Unwelcome Visitors

_Chapter Tags: Cartoon Violence, Mild Language (Non-English)_

* * *

Several thousands of miles away from the coast of the United Federation's borders, out into open waters where larger continents could not even be seen across the horizon, there lay a small collection of islands; roughly six of them, some so small you could trek one side to the other in a day, some so large they required 3 days to completely explore. Smack dab in the middle of this group of islands was one of the smaller islands, a farming and fishing community whose main export was fruits and seafood; Bygone Island.

This particular spring day was not unlike a typical afternoon for seventeen year old Sonic the Hedgehog and three of his four partners; weaving through and over the dense island forest with their human nemesis and his obotic minions hot on their tails. Sonic was the main ground diversion today. Ah, there wasn't much like the sound of laser fire and narrowly avoiding the head of trees bursting into flame to get the adrenaline pumping.

"Friendly tip, Egghead: you're supposed to fire _at_ me, not next to me!" Sonic shot back to his enemy flying along in his Egg-Mobile behind him.

"Can't you let me at least enjoy the atmosphere of the chase for five minutes, hedgehog?!" Dr. Eggman barked after the super-sonic hedgehog as his egg-mobile and firing beetle-bots weave around intact and destroyed foliage.

"I could, but what fun would the day be without our banter?! Come on, you know you love it!"

"That's beside the point!"

Sonic finally burst forth from the treeline and into the canyonous area where his support was waiting. He dove into a thinner canyon where Eggman was forced to fly above the thin crack while his beetle-bots drove in single-file to follow after Sonic, smoothly weaving around the turns along after him. Thankfully, Sonic's support was right on schedule as his ears twitched at the sounds of cracking rock, tumbling boulders, and rapid-fire gunfire. On a much higher ledge at the mouth of the thin canyon, broken rock and boulders tumbled down to attempt to block off the exit into the wider ridge as nineteen year old Knuckles the Echidna tore through the rock face with ease. Sonic managed to pick up his pace and burst through the mouth just in time for the first half of the faster beetle-bots to be crushed by the falling rock, the rest blocked off.

Sonic skid to a stop to wave a hand up to Knuckles and signal that he was fine, as well as a thanks for the cover, and Knuckles signaled back with a thumbs-up before he quickly moved to climb down to Sonic's level. They could barely hear Eggman yell and shout in irritation through the distance, gunfire and missle-fire as Eggman was being chased down by a bright yellow-and-white plane. Thirteen year old Tails the Fox (preferable to his real name) managed to duck around and over the missile-fire as he pelted his Egg-Mobile with his own gunfire, but made sure Sticks the Badger (of an ambiguous age, presumably 13 but could be anywhere in that range) could still cling on to the side of the wing without falling off.

"Don't you rodents have anything better to do than to pester and shoot at me?!" Eggman shouted back at Tails with a mild growl.

"You attacked _us!_ " Tails snapped back in defense as his plane jerked to dodge another missile.

"And you could have just let me destroy you and made this easy on everyone! But as per usual, it has to be a giant _thing_ now," Eggman retorted as if scolding the child like _he_ was the one inconvenienced by this whole thing, his own Egg-Mobile jerking back to dodge gunfire; of course Tails wasn't aiming for _him,_ just his vehicle.

There wasn't much for Sonic and Knuckles to do on the ground anymore besides just sit back and watch the mid-air dog-fight. Sonic was able to casually lean against his larger companion, so light that Knuckles didn't even end up leaning in either direction as they both folded their arms and, with entertained and amused grins, watched the two parties go back and forth for a bit. Sonic's ear twitched when he heard his wrist communicator go off, though, and he turned to lean his back against Knuckles as he looked to the ID of the awaiting call. It was Amy. He briefly grinned and pressed his communicator to answer.

"Hey, Amy! Glad you called. Knuckles and I smoke Eggman's bots in the gully and Tails is creaming him in the skies," Sonic reported before Amy could get a word in. "How's the excavation going?"

" _Sonic, you don't pay attention to dates or time very well, so I'll say this patiently,_ " Amy started with a fraction of impatience in her tone. " _I literally just got off the boat. I told you this morning, Sonic, that I was coming home today, and you promised to meet me at the docks to help unload everything._ "

Sonic stood tall and felt Knuckles' shocked look bore through the back of his head and to the communicator, his spines standing up on end.

"You're already back? But you said you wouldn't be back until 2!"

" _It's 2:10. I know these things usually have a 30 minute gap for you, Sonic, but 'sharp' is 'sharp', you know._ "

Sonic briefly glanced to the time stamp on his communicator and groaned, turning to muffle the moan with Knuckles' side before exposing his mouth to the communicator.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, so we lost track of time," he admitted with another groan, waving his free hand to it as if Amy could see it. "I'm guessing the crew's got it and it's too late for me to come help... We'll wrap up here and meet you at Meh Burger, okay? My treat. You got a crew to bring your stuff back, right?"

" _Of course! Cliff's excavation crew is just so helpful,_ " Amy sighed happily with a bit more patience under the knowledge of Sonic paying for her meal. " _We managed to bring so much stuff back. I can't wait to show you guys! It's going to blow your minds._ "

"Iii'm sure it will, Amy," Sonic chuckled with mild distraction as he locked up to watch the end of the wing to Tail's plane be torn through by a missile, though Tails managed to recover by purposefully getting his other wing hit for balance. Thankfully, Sticks was unharmed. "Okay, hang tight. We'll wrap up real quick and meet you there. Make sure you bring your extra nerdy for Tails' sake."

" _Hardy har, Sonic,_ " Amy sighed with an audible shake of her head as she hung up.

Sonic turned around and waved for Knuckles to give him a boost. Knuckles knelt down and cupped both his hands for Sonic to slide a foot into, allowing Knuckles to hurl him up into the air as Sonic added to the force with a kick-off of his hands. Sonic managed to slow the flight down with a spin and managed to hop onto the wing opposite of Sticks.

"Hey, guys, Amy's back!" He announced to the two of them with a nod to Eggman. "Lets hurry this up so we can catch her at Meh Burger! She says she has some stuff for us!"

"Amy's back?!" Tails jumped up in excitement, turning to Eggman was a more determined look. "One quick-win coming up!"

Tails immediately sped up to fly over Eggman and do a 360 spin when he was directly overhead. Both Sticks and Sonic released their grip on the plane and dropped down, Sticks on top of Eggman to slide down onto the controls and tear into them with her boomerang, and Sonic to bounce off of Eggman after her, drop down just beside the Egg-Mobile and hurl himself at the sides with several homing attacks. With both of their efforts, even Eggman's yelling for them to get off and swatting at Sticks did nothing to stop them from grounding the Egg-Mobile in the gully. Sticks and Sonic hopped away to land besides Knuckles, rushing over to rejoin them, as Eggman looked to the destroyed controls and glare to the four of them in agitation.

"This is my only ride home, you know," he grumbled to them with clear guilt-trip in his tone.

"I'm sure you can manage," Sonic smugly assured him as Sticks and Knuckles climbed into Tails' damage plane once it had landed.

And with a final smug, taunting salute and a cheeky smirk matching that of his companions' (save Sticks giving Eggman the dirty-eyes), Sonic waited for Tails to take off with Sticks and Knuckles before taking off after them through the ravens of the canyon. The group shared amused laughter as they could hear Eggman shouting after them and calling upon another squadron of robots for be his ride back to his lair.

* * *

The trip back to Meh Burger was not a short one. Tails mostly just needed to briefly park his plane back at his workshop before everyone rejoined with Sonic at Meh Burger to wait up for Amy. They ordered food ahead of time and patiently waited for Amy's return (some more patiently than others). They were excited, some more than others, to see what she'd brought back. Likely just old tablets, maybe some pottery, they figured.

And to think such a nightmare would begin with such a simple question:

"Knuckles, you're educated on echidna culture, right?"

Of course it wasn't Amy's innocent question that set the year's events into motion, but it was a fitting precursor. Was the day anything special before that? Not really, no. The hero crew of four (with the absence of Amy), courtesy of Dr. Eggman, managed to get their weekly battle with him finished before Amy had even gotten back from her expedition trip with Cliff and his excavation crew, so Amy would have all the time in the world to nerd out. Her opening question was what caused their usual, 'peaceful' day to take such a turn (though only indirectly).

Everyone at the table briefly glanced up to Amy at her question as she approached their table, then to Knuckles in surprise. The lack of a 'hello' hardly even registered in their mild shock. Even Knuckles's eyes widened slightly as he withdrew his toasted food and put it down, shocked that someone as smart as Amy would be asking him of all people about anything astute like culture, even if it was his own.

"Sure, I am. I was surrounded by it practically my whole life," he briefly bragged with a confident tilt of his shoulders and upwards chin. He glanced over the materials she carried over in her hands, watching her put it all down before continuing. "Why d'ya ask? You don't normally ask _me_ about stuff like this."

"Well, you're the only echidna present on the island," Amy explained as she pulled up a chair to sit down, beginning to sort out the different artifacts she'd brought with her. "And echidnas are very private about their culture and history, so it's not something that's very easy to research. I couldn't find anything of use in the village library... though that probably doesn't come as much surprise to you. So, you're pretty much the only available reference for that kind of thing."

She began to organize her things around everyone's food and lay out a thick book, some rolled up scrolls, and about two small, chipped and slightly cracked stone tablets, earning the group's immediate attention. Sonic briefly glanced over it with some intrigue, though ultimately just shrugged and took another bite of his dog, while Tails' and Knuckles' eyes widened. Tails immediately sat up to examine it with intense fascination, while Knuckles' eyes flashed with recognition.

"Hey, I recognize this!" Knuckles put his food down and stood up to look over the tablets with big eyes, almost proud that he could be of use; if one looked, they could even see a delighted wiggle in his tail. "It's an old echidna language! Where'd you find this stuff, Amy?"

"I was gone for two whole weeks with Cliff excavating the old ruins to the East, _remember_?" Amy reminded him with a twinge of irritation in her folded arms, though eased up when she saw Knuckles shrink back, his look apologizing for not remembering in his excitement.

"Probably not, considering Tails and me were the only people you ever called on that trip," Sonic shot with a teasing grin that didn't so much as twitch at Amy's narrowed look to him. He simply shrugged and waved the remaining half of his dog for her to continue. "So you found some old echidna stuff."

"Right, and I was _wondering_ ," Amy continued with a bit of a sweeter tone as she leaned against the table and looked back to Knuckles. "If you maybe could look it over and see if you recognize their specific contents. Maybe translate a bit for me and gimme some context before I do my own deeper translations?"

The request lit a passionate and elated fire inside of Knuckles' chest and the grin that quickly stretched across his muzzle looked almost painful in its width. Immediately beaming with pride as his chest and shoulders rose with his elated smile, he very promptly picked up Sticks' seat, kicked his over closer to Amy's, and set Sticks down in his original place all while ignoring her struggling protests. Knuckles' excitement earned a chuckle from Sonic across the table.

"Watch out, Knuckles' ego is on the loose," he called over to Amy in a lighthearted jab, only receiving a brief look from Amy telling him to stuff it.

Sonic surrendered as he finished his food entirely, leaned back with his arms folded behind his head and folded his leg over the other, watching the group with amusement. Tails stand up to look over it with the two of them, looking over one tablet while Knuckles looked over another; the larger of the two. Sticks' analyzing gaze didn't seem to know what to make of it all at first, so she opted to simply keep her distance for now and wait to see what came of it. Knuckles scanned the tablet for a moment or two before he jumped up to smile to Amy.

"Tablets usually had important rituals, or predictions," he explained, directing Amy's attentions to the markings etched into the ancient stone. "This one talks about a ceremony surrounding the death of the High Priest, or a Chieftain; kind of a funeral, only a lot more festive. As far as I know, we still have an upgraded version of it today too. More 'flowers', less 'coating the body in griffon blood and burning it in the bones and dust of past Kings or Priests'."

"Ew. Please tell me the smaller one isn't as gross," Amy pleaded with him, prompting Tails to set the smaller tablet down to let Knuckles look it over.

"Oh, yeah, this one's not nearly as awesomely gross. It's an older version of the Prayer to Chaos." Knuckles said this with such casualty, but his eyes glanced about the tablet with a glowing beam unlike anything else.

"Prayer to Chaos... That's an incantation used by Guardians to commune with their sacred relic, right?" Tails asked with a light flick of his tails in anticipation of being right.

"Yep! Can't translate for ya, though, and I gotta keep a hold of that one from ya... That's kind of a trade secret. Strictly for Guardians, or family to Guardians." Knuckles confirmed, then informed apologetically as he scooted the tablet closer to him to take later when he left the table.

"You're all speaking French to me at this point." Sticks, who'd been kind of left in the dust in the wake of all the talk of ancient history, finally piped up with a blank, confused and borderline concerned expression, eyes darting between the four of them with worry.

"Oh, yeah, it's not very well known for people living in modern society as is. You probably don't understand anything we're talking about, do you?" Amy realized with sheepish apology in her voice.

"I'm starting to worry you guys joined a cult behind my back."

"Well, we didn't. Knuckles, you _gotta_ know the legend of Tikal and Chaos like the back of your hand, right?" Tails asked, demeanor bright with excitement and anticipation of hearing an insider's take on the tale he already knew relatively well as his hands drummed on the table and his tails flicked about.

"Pfft, obviously! It's only the biggest legend of my entire species! Of course I—oh, hey, that's new..." Knuckled assured, then teased as he glanced at the back of his own hand mid-flagrant-gesture.

"Knuckles." Amy scolded with a roll of her eyes, tone thick with 'just get on with it'.

"I'm just kidding!" Knuckles shot back with his own rolling eyes than glared over to Amy for killing his joke, though he appreciatively stood tall and cleared his throat when Amy surrender. "Anyway, basically, it goes like this: Echidnas – especially the Olmec Echidnas... that's us – were the most awesome race on the planet besides humans. We didn't need fancy technology to kick everyone's tails to the curb! We had a whole bunch of land and sea territory. Everyone else, we either took over or were just at a stalemate with. Everything was turning up Olmecs... Until one day, an army of reptiles, coyotes and crows attacked the capital city of the Olmec echidnas to take our land. We were surrounded on all corners; reptiles and coyotes digging under the outer walls, crows coming at us from above... We were totally outmatched and outnumbered. Even when reinforcements in the rival hedgehog clans and fox packs showed up to help, they just kept on coming. So, the Chief at the time, Chief Pa-...ya know, I can never pronounce his name... Pacha... We'll call him Chief Pacha. Chief Pacha decided to turn to our sacred relic, the Master Core, to get the power to beat them back! _But_ all he did was release the entity originally guarding the Core; the Water God, Chaos. Oh, he took care of our enemies all right! He tore through them like wet toilet paper! _But_... see the land didn't originally belong to us, and apparently he was still super pissed at the Olmecs, so once the enemies fled, _Chaos_ started tearing through what was left. So Tikal, the Chief's daughter, sacrificed her life energy to seal Chaos away inside the Master Core to save what was left of our people. Then everyone signed a peace treaty and agreed to leave each other alone. The end."

By the time Knuckles was done, he'd had everyone's full, undivided attention, and he could feel his chest swelling with pride. A wide grin on his face, he theatrically bowed, narrowly avoiding slamming his head into the table upon Tails and Knuckles feverishly reaching to stop his head from colliding with it.

"The story's new, but it's startin' to ring a few bells, I guess... either that, or the silkworms are back in my head again." Sticks murmured to herself before she started feeling her ears and head to be safe, earning eye-rolls.

"So, what happened to the city? And the Core?" Tails asked Knuckles with a more attentive gaze up to him now.

"Not really allowed to say. Blood oath."

"Ah. The most binding kind." Sticks murmured under her breath with a shift of her head onto her hand, supported by her elbow, though she kept her eyes on the others.

"Yeah, you'll have to translate that on your own... I can look over the scrolls for ya! The book's a whole other endure of it's own." Knuckles explained as he excitedly started to unfurl and flatten one of the scrolls

"Erm, Knuckles, do you mean 'endeavor'?" Tails asked him with a wry, patient smile.

"Yeah, that too-"

Knuckles' hands immediately withdrew on reflex, taking in swift gasp of air as the scroll rolled back up against with a loud swish of its paper. For about ten seconds, Knuckles just stared at the waterlogged scroll with shock and alarm. Only the briefest flicker of genuine distress presented itself before Sonic sat up.

"Knux? You okay there, buddy?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm cool. I'm good. Why?"

"You kinda pulled back like the scroll was gonna bite you when you opened it."

Amy opted to flatten it out this time, using the two tablets to keep the paper pinned to the table and opened. The echidna dialect was outstretched across the entire length of the paper, written around a few elegantly painted pictures; the most noticeable, and understandable to decipher, being a blotch of blood red color with a brighter red circle in the middle, save for a painted white crescent shape at the edge. Amy, Tails and Sticks leaned in a bit closer to try to examine the entirety of the scroll, though only Amy focused on the drawings.

"Hm... I've seen other designs like this before. It's either a ritual or a prophecy of some kind... Can you translate?" Amy inquired with a curious glance up to Knuckles, whose eyes shifted around, nervous and unfocused.

"Nope. Sorry. 'nother private thing... blood oaths and all... In fact..."

Without warning, Knuckles reached across the table and rapidly started collecting everything as he rounded the table to move around it. He only let behind the bigger book in his haste.

"What are you doing?" Amy demanded as she reached for one of the tablets, only for Knuckles' jerk away to deny her of it.

"Taking them. They belong to my ancestors, so they're practically my property." Knuckles promptly turned around to start moving away, but Amy stood up and reached a hand to him to signal for him to wait.

"Knuckles, aren't you going to at least gimme a chance to translate it myself?"

"Eh, you wouldn't be interested! It's... pretty boring... I'll just go ahead and take these off your hands, head home, throw 'em in the attic and ya know, hey, just for the heck of it, maybe pretend we never found them in the first place!" Knuckles very quickly called back as he was dismissing himself from the situation with more of a dash away from Meh Burger now.

"Knuckles!" Amy took a few more steps forward as she shouted after him, but Knuckles didn't heed her calls."H-Hey, come back! We weren't done!"

"Sorry, Amy, I can't hear you over the sound of... my... not... listening to you!" A lame call-back by Knuckles, sure, but one way or another, he was gone.

Amy sighed in dejected disappointment as she turned around to sit back down, folding her arms tightly across her chest and glaring down to the table.

"Well, at least we know he hasn't been replaced by an alien," she grumpily murmured.

"Yet." Sticks hardly earned a look for her very quick, snide comment.

"I wonder what's got him so spooked..." Tails hummed curiously to himself with a glance over his shoulder to where Knuckles went off to, and looking over to Sonic upon detecting the older hedgehog shrug.

"Probably just saw a scary story and thought it was real," Sonic figured with a dismissive shrug, only to earn a look of disapproval from Tails.

"Well, who's the say it's not? Knuckles is the only one here with extensive knowledge on his people's culture and history... well, more than _us_ , anyway. Echidnas are _extremely_ hush-hush about that... it can't be for no reason."

"I guess I'm on my own with this old book..." Amy sighed as she reached over and gathered the book into her hands, examining the ancient craftsmanship of it. "I have a pretty basic understanding of old echidna writing, and there's the Modern Albian to Common dictionary I got a while back, but it's going to take a while for me to translate on my own... I just hope Knuckles snaps out of it soon."

* * *

Was it rude to suddenly snatch everything Amy had retrieved from a two week long expedition and had worked incredibly hard for? Probably yeah. Admittedly, once again, Knuckles had reacted on impulse. But he couldn't afford to stay at Meh Burger any longer, or for that scroll to be eventually translated by Amy. He just... he just couldn't. Even holding the scroll with the other items in his hands felt gross. The paper felt slimy and disgusting in his hands.

His home was a fair distance away from the village, off by the edge of the forest by a far northwestern seaside cliff, and no one knew where he lived, so he was certain he and the items would be safe there. Halfway back through the forest, though, he found himself glancing down to the paper one too many times. His gut churning, he finally found a good rock to sit down on and did so. He laid all the items down on the ground to rest them as he unfurled the delicate, fragile scroll again. He knew what it said; even if he couldn't read English, and didn't speak this form of his Mother tongue, he was still versed enough to understand the ancient dialect. And it made him want to vomit. Maybe it was better off destroyed...? He really did just wanted to forget about it.

He flinched slightly when he finally noticed a change in the air's humidity from the morning and afternoon. He sniffed the air and could finally pinpoint the change; a storm was about to roll over the island. Probably approaching from the west, and not too far off, if he was correct. After standing up and waiting a minute or two, he could hear the subtle thunder rolling across the sky very dully in the far distance. Oh, he had to be getting back quick if he was gonna beat the rain. He picked up the materials and turned to head off further through the forest-

 _Skrk_

The snapping of a heavy branch close by caught Knuckles' attention and shifted his sixth sense into high gear. He turned and looked around to find the potential source. If it were an animal, the noises would continue, but the noises silenced. It was a person, likely aware he'd detected the noise and trying to now not be noticed. Refusing to press further, Knuckles simply put his things down and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, Sonic, I know you're trying to punk me," he called out into the wilderness with a smug smirk and a roll of his eyes. "Quit clowning around."

No response. He chuckled and rolled his eyes, reaching for his communicator to buzz for Sonic. If it was Sonic nearby, he'd hear the alarm of his call go off. And it would have been one thing if Sonic just immediately turned it off and didn't answer; maybe that'd be why he didn't hear anything.

His smile fell when he heard no alarm in the middle of the forest and Sonic still answered.

" _Hey, Knux._ " Knuckles blood hadn't run cold like that in a long time, and he never thought it'd happen when he heard Sonic casually answer. _"You finally calm down? Cause Amy would appreciate getting her stuff back. I know it's technically your people's, but the people it belonged to are dead, and Amy found it first. It's kind of the property of archeology now."_

Knuckles couldn't find his voice as he looked around. He normally wasn't this paranoid, but the scroll was bringing up painful memories he never wanted to return to him again. Memories of who could possibly be out here. He occasionally held his breath as he listened for more movement.

" _Knuckles?_ " He heard Sonic call for him when he got no answer. " _You there, buddy?_ "

Knuckles, again, couldn't respond as his focus was centered only on listening. Something made the air feel stiff and tense, and it was a sensation he recognized. As he stepped away to start cutting to a more open area of the forest, he could finally recognize the sensation of being followed and the sensation of the energies that were following him.

These were enemies.

* * *

" _Uh... No?_ " Sonic's brow furrowed and he glanced between an equally confused Amy, Sticks and Tails before looking back down to his communicator. _"Knuckles isn't here, actually. Can I leave a message?"_

"Knuckles, you called me," Sonic reminded him as he slowly stood up. He could detect the mild sense of distress and worry in his voice. "What's going on? You okay?"

" _Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah! I'm totally..._ " Knuckles trailed off for a second. " _...totally... fine. It's just a creepy forest, and it's just about to rain. No big deal. Everything's perfectly-_ "

What sounded like a tree almost instantly snapping and slamming down close by Knuckles, and Knuckles subsequent cry of surprise, cut him off. Concern shot through their stomachs in an almost simultaneous jolt as Amy, Sticks and Tails were immediately at their feet with Sonic, leaning to listen in.

"Knuckles? You still there? What happened?" Sonic demanded of him with a more fervent tone.

" _O-Oh god..._ " The amount of fear in Knuckles' tone when he didn't answer Sonic was bone chilling. No one had heard that level of genuine terror in his voice. Ever. " _Ho-How did you—How did you find me?! I came here to get away from you! Get back—!"_

They could hear what sounded Knuckles' communicator being smashed by something, followed by incomprehensible static. Without another second to spare, everyone bolted away from their table, away from Meh Burger, and out of the village. Tails relied on his namesakes to keep up with the others as he used his own communicator to trace the last signal before Knuckles' was destroyed.

"I got his last signal broadcast!" He reported to the others. "He's in the western forest, ten miles northwest of here!"

No other words were exchanged as Tails took the lead. The four of them bolted out of the village and through the western forest like lightning. No amount of foliage or fauna could stop their blazing rush through to Knuckles last seen location. With their speed, ten miles was hardly anything, and in only a few short minutes, they could overhear conflict. The sounds of trees falling, roots tearing from the earth and snapping, and Knuckles' distressed shouting. As Tails was about to lead them around another corner of trees, a bright red blur slammed against a taller, sturdier tree and fell to the ground. They all halted, and Sonic zipped over first to stand in front of him defensively from whatever seemed to be attacking him. Tails was second, with Amy and Sticks to follow.

Amy began helping Knuckles off of the ground and could feel a small tremble running up the arm she grabbed. Tails felt the same as his tails brought him off the ground and pulled Knuckles' other arm up. Sticks kept to looking through the foliage at Sonic's side for the attacker, while Sonic briefly glanced over his shoulder to check on his friend.

"Knuckles, are you okay?" Amy gently pleaded as they helped him up to his feet at long last, but when he didn't answer and just stared off into the trees with terror, she glanced back up to follow his gaze.

It wasn't one figure that broke through the trees to make Tails land with his Enter-Beam at the ready and Amy draw her hammer defensively; it was three. Though they seemed nigh identical; feirce eyes were the only things they could see as dark green-and-brown, hooded cloaks and similarly colored jumpsuits, boots and gloves covered the rest of them. They seemed to be somewhat closer to Knuckles' physique, with sturdy, assault-ready stances, and the third who broke through the trees seemed powerful enough to push the tree like a flimsy chair, tearing the roots from the ground with just a measly shove. Though the push itself didn't seem very forceful.

"Okay, this is new," Sonic grumbled under his breath before stepping forward bravely with fierce protection in his stance and tone. "Hey, whoever you are, beat it! The friend circle is a no-mess-with zone!"

" **Así que has encontrado más personas para arrastrar hacia abajo con usted, príncipe? Esto es sólo una vergüenza.** " The taller one in the middle, with a voice that was strangely far too soft-spoken for such a threatening appearance, seemed to toss over to Knuckles without so much as regarding Sonic's comment.

" **¡Ya te dije! Vine aquí para alejarse de lo que la gente! Salí de Albion! Por qué no puedes dejarme en paz ya?!** " Knuckles distressed shout back in a language and accent fluent and identical to the one the other man used earned surprised looks from the others. Of course it was obvious Knuckles knew them, but... to share the same language?

Were these other echidnas?

And more importantly... since when was Knuckles bilingual?

Their confused glances to one another redirected to the threatening man upon his low chuckle and the shake of his head.

" **No es algo que realmente puede ayudar, lo sé. Sé que es en causas ajenas a su propia cuenta. Pero en realidad, esto es lo mejor. Para todo el mundo, incluido usted mismo. Así que ¿por qué no acaba de hacer esto sin dolor para todos los involucrados y se da vuelta sobre ya?** "

" **Ya has arruinado esto para mi familia, ahora que tenía que arruinar esto para mis amigos?!** " The tone Knuckles used wasn't the least bit muddled by his fluent, perfect accent and diction, or vice versa. His mixture of shame, anguish, and pure 'pissed-off-mode' was very evident." **Usted y el Sihil clan no puede dejarme tener algo bueno para mí , ¿verdad?! Sólo ... sólo la mierda ya!** "

Without warning, Knuckles seemed to hop up, kick off of the tree behind him and with a large front flip midair to gain momentum and power, he landed on the ground with a ferocious strength, his fists and feet slamming down causing a massive shockwave. The shockwave seemed to tear through the earth and slightly split it as the three enemies were forced back into rocks and trees from the force of it. He stood up and lurched back to rejoin his friends. Only one of the enemies fully recovered, the other two thrown into threes or bushes and thrown to the ground. The tallest one, knelt to try to recover from the blow, looked up to Knuckles with a brief flash of a look of bile and hatred, causing Knuckles to pull back behind them and for Sonic, Amy, Tails and Sticks to step in front of Knuckles with warning, protective, fierce expressions. He chuckled softly and waited for his partners to stand and ready themselves before standing himself.

" **Esperemos que sus aliados son los expertos, ya que creen que son. Si lo que realmente son aliados y amigos, en lugar de sólo un escudo.** "

He snapped his fingers and on his command, he and the other two promptly charged at the five, ready to attack. They had made the unfortunate mistake of catching Sonic in his usual 'Not Today!' mood, and he sprung into action with a circular spindash to cut off their charge. They halted and looked to one another in shock and surprise, too slow to react as Sonic doubled-back and rammed into the three of them in a zigzag fashion before returning to his friends. He held up his fists as Amy, Sticks and Tails were by his side with their weapons at the ready, stances ready to attack and defend. As the taller one sat up from his spot on the ground, the hood to his cloak fell off to reveal a light lavender echidna around twenty-four years old was hiding under the cloak. He threw his hood back on when he heard surprised and shocked gasps from Tails and Amy, and he pushed himself up as his other allies came to stand, glaring to him.

" **Usted no ha dicho el Príncipe estaba colgando alrededor de un Constellan erizo!** " One of the younger ones, around eighteen maybe, yelled to the taller one in irritation.

" **Yo no lo esperaba...** " The taller one murmured in shock before glancing between the five heroes, then to his comrades, stepping back into the woods uneasily. " **Huir, hermanos. El Senor necesita conocer a esta.** "

"Hey!" Sonic saw the tallest dash off into the forest, but couldn't dash over in time before the two remaining ones pulled more trees and brush form their roots and blocked the way to give them room to flee. "Hey, get back here, you creeps! I'm not finished with you!"

"Sonic, just let them go," Tails insisted with a frustrated shake of his head. "We can track them down later, but for now, we need to know what we're up against. Knuckles, who exactly was-"

Tails gasped when he turned around and found Knuckles had disappeared entirely, leaving behind the items he stole from Amy in his wake. His gasp grabbed Sonic and the girls' attention, and they immediately began to look around to find a sign of where Knuckles had run off to. Sticks got down on the ground to sniff around, while Sonic began to zip about in areas nearby and Amy searched around the more immediately area. They searched about the immediate forest, calling after Knuckles in case he was attacked again, until Sticks froze where she saw and sniffed a particular spot in the path. She straightened onto her toes and hands.

"GUYS!" She hollered, waiting for the others to rejoin with her before nodding in the direction she was facing. "He went that way."

"Okay, I'll run ahead and catch up to him, and try to figure out what that was all about," Sonic decided, earning understanding and obedient nods from those he gave his following orders to. "Sticks, you try to trail down our 'new pals' and let us know if you find anything. Tails, Amy, you two should probably take the stuff back to the workshop and do some digging, see what you can figure out."

"He took the scroll before he left," Tails sighed as he knelt down to the ground to collect the abandoned items, passing them up to Amy.

"Don't worry, I'll get it from him when I find him," Sonic reassured Tails with a pat of his head, watching Sticks take off into the woods to do her reconnaissance before he turned and took off into the forest.

There was gonna be no beating the rain for either of them, though.


	3. Minor Details and Preparations

_Chapter Tags: Anxiety attack, Prophecy shlock, references to a yet-to-be-written prequel. No other applicable tags._

 _PS: If there are no applicable tags, the tags will get silly._

* * *

Sticks gave Sonic direction, but it occurred to him five minutes down the road that he actually had no idea where he was going. Where was Knuckles going? Home? Oh, yeah, that place Knuckles never invited him to. What kind of turns would he need to take? Was he even still headed there or off to hide in a cave? Sonic ended up diverting from the path and effectively got himself lost in the forest for a good fifteen minutes. By the time he broke from the forest's tree line to find something new, the storm had rolled over fully.

This was a part of the forest he hadn't come across before, and it almost immediately clicked where he was. When he broke through the tree line, he found himself by a seaside cliff, a very large portion of the foliage and rocks removed to make room for a very well constructed home made from polished stone and logs, with smooth, more professionally polished stone acting as the roof, with a tall, square chimney indicating the presence of a fireplace. It was actually pretty fairly large for what Sonic presumed was only one person living there; it seemed had two floors and what looked like an attic, and, for being in the middle of nowhere, looked very professionally constructed.

The area around it was very lush and spacious with plenty of space between the house, the tree line and the cliff; rocks and smooth logs surrounded and marked the borders of an extensive produce garden, and smaller stones marked a flower garden separate from the produce garden. Closer to the cliff seemed to be some kind of stable built for two or three of... something, and further off to the left were fruit trees. At least twenty of them, ripe with fresh fruit and very precisely spaced out.

This was where Knuckles lived? There was no other explanation, this had to be it, but... this? Honestly, Sonic was expecting a hut or something, not something more suited for a suburban town. If the place had air conditioning, he was going to lose his mind. But for now, he had to find Knuckles and get out of the rain.

He approached a wooden front porch, which was kept dry by thick, sturdy leaves supported by strong branches like an awning, shook and squeezed the water out of his quills, fur and and prepared to knock on the polished wooden door—dangit, this was too surreal. He didn't expect Knuckles' house to look this nice...

" **Ué hacer! Amy encontró un rollo acerca de la Luna Escarlata , entonces el clan Sihil vino y me atacó , una y yo no sabía que estaba tan cerca** -"

He could hear Knuckles inside the front room, pacing, speaking in that weird language again, and talking on the phone with someone. He opted to just lean his ear against the door and listen for a second.

" _Knuckles, Knuckles, calm down and speak English for a second. I know you revert when you freak out, but I'm not up to date, and communication is important right now,_ " a female voice that Sonic recognized.

 **Maya-Li.** Woo boy. They'd only met just a month or two ago, and Sonic had so hoped the next time he heard from her or that she was brought in would be way more pleasant than her first visit to Bygone. Those weren't pleasant memories. Considering when they first met, Maya was always so distant, quiet, and glared at anyone that moved or looked at Knuckles, her, or her husband who'd also visited wrong, it was almost jarring to hear her speak with such comfort and support in her tone. Though, then again, this was to Knuckles and not... anyone else. Perhaps not so surprising, really.

"I-I'm sorry, Mom, I'm sorry, I'm just..." Sonic blinked with surprise when he heard Knuckles actually sniffle. When he listened closer, it sounded like Knuckles had actually been crying; his voice sounded tight, his nose blocked as he sniffled harshly. Sonic's brow furrowed with concern. "I-I'm just freakin' out... I-I thought if I waited it out, it'd just go on without me, but it—I didn't think they'd find me..."

" _Well... Lets just be thankful it was Sihil and not Hanil. It might have ended up a lot worse if it was the Hanils,_ " Maya pointed out with a soft sigh. " _So... what're you wanting to do,_ _ **miel**_ _?_ "

"I don't know!" Knuckles shouted in a more intense distress than before; than anything Sonic had ever heard out of him in the open. "I-I don't know what to do! The guys showed up to help me and they saw they were echidnas and they know people are after me and I-"

" _Knuckles, baby, breath, you're starting to hyperventilate,_ " Maya promptly warned him as he was starting to lose himself in his quick breathing and otherwise breathless speech. " _Blow, breath, then speak, okay?_ "

He heard Knuckles pause to apparently blow his nose on something, then take a few slow deep breaths now that his nasal passage was clear. Ten seconds were spend on him slowing down his breathing and calming down. Sonic bit the inside of his cheek, wondering whether or not he should continue eavesdropping or knock. Just as he brought his hand back to knock, though, Knuckles continued.

"Sorry, Mom..." Knuckles sighed dejectedly. "It's... been, like, eight years. I just thought I finally got away from all that... And now that everything's super great, the Sihil Clan shows up and totally uproots me. I have to either tell them, move, or both... a-and I don't know where else to go..."

" _I... goddamnit, I could never make you come back to Albion, even for your own protection..._ " Maya growled under her breath, but loud enough for Sonic to hear. " _If we had the Crystals, maybe, but..._ _ **Maldecir a nuestros antepasados por su ignorancia que lleva a esta...**_ "

"Mom, come on..."

Knuckles was met with what sounded like an apology and another sigh, but nothing else. The thirty seconds of silence that passed was too much and Sonic finally knocked rhythmically on the door.

" _Who is it?_ " Maya immediately demanded.

"It's... it's just Sonic, Mom," Knuckles reassured her with a sigh. "I'll talk to you later, I'll... go shove him off. Or, try, anyway."

" _Okay..._ _ **Te amo, cariño.**_ "

"Yeah... I love you too, Mom..."

Sonic took a step back and allowed Knuckles the five minutes it took for him to answer the door. When he did, Knuckles feigned a surprised smile and leaned against the doorframe as though his eyes weren't red and puffy at all. Based on his cleaner face, though, Knuckles had stepped away to go wash his face before opening the door.

"Oh, uh... hey!" Knuckles greeted as he glanced around behind Sonic, to check if anyone else was there. "Uh... I-I don't think anyone's ever been here before. How'd you, uh... how'd you find me?"

"Sticks gave me a direction, and then I kinda just ran around in circles until I found it," Sonic laughed weakly, noting the discomfort in Knuckles' fake smile. "Glad this place is yours though. I could use a place to get out of the rain."

Knuckles seemed to fidget in his spot, bit his lip and glance around anxiously, torn between being rude and... something else until he finally grinned uncomfortably and waved for Sonic to come in, stepping aside.

"S-Sure! Come on in, buddy. **Mi casa es tu casa!** " Knuckles announced as Sonic wiped his muddy shoes off on the porch and stepped in.

As Knuckles shut the door behind them, Sonic was rather immediately reminded of the fact that, oh yeah, Knuckles' parents were loaded. Even if the outside looked a little humble, the inside was pretty well-furnished; a nice white leather sofa, polished oak coffee table in front of a widescreen TV – though the reliability of the cable often varied, if Knuckles was telling the truth on that much – soft, white wool rugs on dark hardwood flooring, and a silver lamp and a wireless dull purple phone on a polished oak ottoman next to a recliner on the short end of the coffee table. A room to the left went off elsewhere, likely the kitchen, and to the left, a set of nice wooden stairs went up to the next floor. In the corner of the half-wall separating the living room from the stairs was, indeed, a brick fireplace protected by a metal fireguard.

Sonic whistled as he moved over to the sofa and sat down, looking around with a bit more awe. Even the window had a nice frame of glass and nice curtains to keep the rain and lightning out. And to top it off: heating and AC, judging by the thermostat by the kitchen door. He could see Knuckles fidget with awkward discomfort as he played with his hands and remained standing at the end of the sofa.

"I don't know why you didn't want me or the guys to come here, this place is amazing for being out in the middle of nowhere," Sonic laughed softly, glancing up to Knuckles curiously. "How do you get electricity and heating and junk in here?"

"Oh, uh... there's a, uh... boiler room and power grid downstairs from the kitchen... in the basement." Knuckles muttered under his breath, his cheeks flaring red and eyes glancing about awkwardly.

"And you have a basement... man, you really have everything here," Sonic sighed gently before stretching and looking up to Knuckles with more intent in his eyes. "But you look ready to fall down from embarrassment, so I'll spare you and just ask what was up with those guys from before-"

"Hey! Uh... can I get you something to eat or drink while you're here?" Knuckles suddenly interrupted him with a nervous grin. "It's kind of a cultural thing to offer that to guests."

"Oh, well, if it's cultural... anything's fine." Sonic conceded with a soft shrug after a second of thought behind his irritated, knowing expression. He watched Knuckles sigh with relief and head over to the kitchen door as he laid down across the sofa. "Once you get me that, then you can tell me about this Sihil Clan."

Knuckles paused as he opened the door and glanced over his shoulder to Sonic. Even from his angle, Sonic could feel the look of shock melting into agitation as Knuckles realized he'd been spied on, but he ultimately said nothing as he went off into the kitchen. Sonic glanced around the room curiously as he waited, not really focus on any one thing in particular until, ten minutes later, Sonic's ear twitched at the shriek of a tea kettle pipe up from the kitchen, then die down. Another five minutes later, Knuckles returned with a plastic tray, setting it down on the coffee table and allowing Sonic to see that he'd prepared some kind of light brown drink – probably tea – and some kind of odd meat wrapped up in a hotdog bun and sprinkled with melted cheese.

"Gotcha some milk tea with honey, and I tried my best with a cheese dog, since I don't have any chili on short notice," Knuckles reported dutifully as he scooted the coffee table closer to Sonic so he'd be able to pick up and set down his cup or dog with ease, moving aside to sit down in the recliner as Sonic sat up. "It's not hot dog meat, but I figured Crupnik meat was an okay substitute."

"I will pretend to know what that is," Sonic decided with a bit more cheer to his tone than he honestly intended, quickly going for the drink first; a blow away of the steam and a quick sip proved that Knuckles actually made pretty good tea.

"It's a kind of ancient pheasant, almost like a peacock's really old cousin, that lives in the Albian Mountains, bordering between Northern Albion and Southern Regent-" Knuckles had sat up with a bright smile at the idea of explaining something someone else didn't know, and Sonic hated to steal that from him, but... it pained him, but he had to stop him from redirecting the conversation.

"Knuckles, I know you're just trying to stall," Sonic quickly cut off as his smile fell and his face adorned a more serious frown, forcing himself not to back down from Knuckles' only falling smile and worried glance aside. "Those guys tried to attack you, and they might come back. And you don't want them finding your house and wrecking your nice garden, do you? You need to tell me what's going on. I know this is something you've obviously wanted to keep to yourself, but that's not a luxury we can afford anymore, Knuckles. What's going on?"

Knuckles bit the inside of his cheek and wrung his hands anxiously as he looked around in thought, wracking his brain for every possible excuse not to explain until he came up with no good excuse. He finally sighed in defeat and laid back in the recliner.

"It's... not really just me," he finally began to explain with an aside glance over to the fireplace. "My entire family's been under attack by them for years."

"Why?" Sonic put his cup down as he leaned in to listen.

"Because of Enerjak."

Sonic's ears twitched at the name he didn't recognize, but he didn't have time to even ask before Knuckles stood up from the recliner and started to make his way over to the couch. He knelt down to find the scroll he'd probably kicked under the sofa in his haste, and sat down as he unfurled in.

"Y'see, when I told that story, about the Master Core and Chaos and stuff, I... wasn't a hundred percent... truthful about what happened," Knuckles sighed as he laid the scroll out and held it open at the ends with the tray and the plate of the Crupnik-Dog he removed. "I didn't lie about anything but... I didn't wanna tell you about Enerjak. Because... I didn't want you to know."

"Because..." Sonic guided him along with a gentle wave of his hand.

He could see Knuckles' gut and face tightening up; he was trying so hard not to break down crying again.

"Because... The chief... didn't just unleash Chaos," Knuckles continued with a harsh sigh. "When he went for the Master Core, something else happened too. He wasn't bonded with the Core like the Guardians who look after it are. So... when he turned to it, all the chaotic energy really, really overwhelmed him and it corrupted him. He went mad with the power, took on the name Enerak, and became a whole new being entirely. He fought with Chaos until Tikal sealed the both of them away with herself."

He didn't sound like he was finished as he stopped talking. Sonic could tell he was holding his breath now. There was something he wasn't telling Sonic still, something that was borderline painful to say outloud. Sonic glanced across the painting on the scroll with a furrowed brow.

"So... Why are they attacking you, then?"

"Because..." Knuckles took in a slow deep breath to try to steady his breathing, but despite it, he still barked it out more with tightly closed eyes than he actually said it. "... _because I can turn into that!_ "

Sonic whirled to face Knuckles with widened eyes and a more stiff stance at the sudden shout; not really from the volume, but the actual statement itself. Knuckles' fists were tightly wound on top of his legs, his arms and shoulders were trembling, and his brow was pinched upwards in mortal terror... he was dead serious. Sonic's hand went to his friend's larger bicep.

"W-Woah, woah, you're not making sense, Knux. What do you mean 'you can turn into that'?"

Knuckles wiped his face to try to prevent himself from crying as he reached over to point out the text. Sonic leaned in to follow along despite not being able to read a lick of it.

"Look... ' _The Yue Oracle came unto us upon the defeat of the demonic king, Enerjak, and spoke to us this:_ "

Knuckles paused and had to swallow the lump in his throat before he continued with distressed, heavy breathing.

"' _Your people shall see four-thousand years of peace and prosperity in your new humility. Your people will protect and guard the Master Crystal Ore from all invaders, in exchange for your theft of it five years prior._

 _Seen at Enerjak's highest moment of power, was the Scarlett Moon, a symbol of his lust for the blood and land of his enemies, and the downfall of all avanced and modern in this era and those following._

 _The Scarlett Moon will signify his return to the mortal plane."_

 _The Oracle went on to describe for us how this would finally be accomplished._

 _"Either a Guardian or an individual from the line of the King, bearing the spiritual essence of Tikal and the blood of the chosen Guide, his or her fur red like blood or drained white of it entirely, will come to bear a white or red crescent mark upon their flesh. Should this person be present in the Temple of Tikal, which you will build on the floating island in her honor, while the moon resembles the crescent against their fur, your demon Enerjak will take that person's body as his host and destroy their..."_ ...th-their..."

Knuckles withdrew and trailed off, turning away from Sonic this time as his hand curled into a tight fist again and came to his chest. Sonic glanced from the scroll and up to him to find himself staring at the side of Knuckles' head when the echidna turned away from Sonic.

"Their what?"

"Their..." Knuckles rubbed his face with both hands this time as he turned back to Sonic with crushed fear. "...their soul."

"Their soul? Can... is that possible?" Sonic had rarely contemplated the idea of souls and spirits and things like that, but Knuckles wouldn't be having this big of an anxiety attack if there weren't some plausibility to his claim, right?

"For him, yeah," Knuckles choked on his own anxiety as he hugged his arms tightly and sat back. "The Sihil Clan has been trying to take out my bloodline for generations because of what Enerjak was capable of. He took on Chaos and was an even match by himself, and Chaos had the infinite power of the Master Core charging him up constantly; both of them did. He could alter reality, make things disappear... and that's just what wound up being recorded. There are a lot of other stories about what he's capable of."

Knuckles took another deep breath to try to recollect his thoughts, but when he glanced to Sonic, he found his leader glaring to the floor as he tried to process this new information. Sonic was so sure his friend was just a simple echidna trying to make due on the island. Really, he was. But he had no idea he came with all this baggage... well, for good reason, it would seem. If Sonic were in his shoes, he wouldn't wanna talk about this either. Knuckles swallowed the lump in his throat and looked to the fireplace; just to give his gaze something to focus on.

"That's... not everything."

"I kinda doubted it," Sonic sighed and shifted his eyes up to his friend, noticing the heavy weight now crushing down and heaving on Knuckles' shoulders. "What's up?"

"The Sihil Clan... they're not the only people looking for me," Knuckles breathed out a heavy, defeated sign, glancing to Sonic with only guilt and sadness when Sonic slightly flinched. "There's also the Hanil Clan. They're kind of the opposite... They... revere Enerjak. Because he promised to 'purge the world of all that is unnatural and toxic to the world' or some hippie shlock like that." He folded his arms tightly and glared at the coffee table at the last quote.

"So, they're after your family too?"

"NOPE!" Knuckles threw his hands up in the arm and glared up to the ceiling with resurfacing tears in his eyes, so suddenly that even Sonic flinched again. "Just me! Because my mom's a guardian and I'm red and I can commune with Tikal and I have this dumbass stupid crescent on my stupid chest, so everyone and their mother thinks I'm going to become Enerjak and either break the world or save it, depending on the perspective!"

"Hey, Knuckles, take it easy-" Sonic tried to calm him down with hands trying to go to his arm and a firm look, but Knuckles just pulled away from him and stood up.

"And the worst part is that they're totally right!" Knuckles wormed around the coffee table and started pacing. Knuckles' hands didn't know what to do with themselves, flexing and unflexing as he seemed to be repressing the urge to hit something, as that would mean damaging his home. "Only my parents, siblings and great-grandparents have the least bit of sense to help me! Everyone else has just surrendered to the inevitable!"

"Knuckles-" Sonic stood up to meet with him, but Knuckles seemed caught in a loop in a building anxiety attack; he was either ignored or not heard.

"It's so freakin' stupid! I left Albion and Angel Island to get away from them, and Byone is so in-the-middle-of-nowhere, I thought they'd never find me! I thought I could finally be happy for once! But apparently that's just not in the cards! One of them is gonna find me, but it's sooner gonna be the Hanil Clan one way or another, and I'm gonna become Enerjak one way or another, and he's gonna destroy my soul, and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"Knuckles!" Sonic zipped around the coffee table as Knuckles finally collapsed under the weight of his unbridled emotions and terrified anxiety attack and fell to the ground at his knees.

Sonic knelt down beside him; Knuckles' breathing was fast and shallow, his arms wrapped around his stomach like he was going to vomit and his gaze tight and petrified as fresh tears stained his muzzle. Sonic's hands floated around Knuckles' arms and shoulders, not sure where to go in his own anxiety.

"Knuckles, hey, buddy, come on, you gotta calm down... I-I've never seen ya like this, I don't know how to-"

"I don't w-wanna hurt anyone..." Knuckles interrupted Sonic before Sonic was met with an image that caused a horrible surge to cut through his stomach to make it churn, and through his chest to make it ache... a look of pure anguish and hopelessness; like this was all laid out for him and there was nothing he could do to prevent one horrible event or another one from happening. "I tried... I t-tried so hard to get—get away f-from that, Sonic, a-and I thought I finally did...! I was happy! But if-if the Sihil Clan found me... th-the Hanil Clan will too, and the both of them'll m-mow down anyone they have to to get to me... I'm... I'm _so_ sorry I brought this to you guys...!"

"Hey, don't be," Sonic firmly urged of him as his hands found Knuckles' biceps at long last. He made stern eye contact with Knuckles' moist, reddened eyes, and Knuckles almost seemed shocked to hear Sonic not teasing him for being a baby, for not being a brave man about this. This seemed... almost foreign. "I'd be trying to get away from that crap too, if I were you. But you're here now, and we're your friends. And if those creeps show their faces around here again, they'll start to learn pretty quick not to mess with the squad."

"The S-Squad...?" Knuckles' head dipped slightly in mild confusion.

"Us. Your friends," Sonic reiterated with another soft pat and a more confident grin. "We'll set up patrols. We won't let 'em get you."

Knukles' arms unfolded and his hands slowly came to find Sonic's own biceps. Sonic felt the violent, uncontrollable shudder coursing through his shoulders and upper torso. There was a want to believe Sonic in Knuckles' eyes, the intense need to find faith in his words, but something seemed to try to crush that hope and trust under its weight. Sonic's own expression melted under his gaze; there was something... painful about it.

"And... wh-what if they do find me, a-and get me?" Knuckles' breathing started to pick up speed again; he started to panic again. "Everyone back home acted like... l-like this was already set in stone, th-that it's just... gonna happen no matter what I do...! What if I do turn into Enerjak, and—and he destroys my soul, and u-uses my body to hurt you?! ...guys! You guys! H-He'll use my body to hurt you guys, and my family, and my people, an-and when my soul's gone, I'm... I-I'm not gonna feel a single thing a-about it!"

Knuckles' head dipped down and his eyes shut tight to try desperately to almost hide his fear and pain, but Sonic's left his on display only in the privacy of Knuckles' home with his eyes closed, his right hand finding Knuckles' left arm and the other only reaching his collarbone on his way to his right shoulder. This was so unlike Knuckles, it was... scary. Terrifying, really. Never in his life had he seen Knuckles at his absolute lowest, and he doubted he ever would again. Few things in this world frightened him to the degree of avoidance, and from this moment onwards, Sonic never again wanted to have to see Knuckles crumbling to the floor, clinging to him with a heart-crushing mixture of terror and gentle care to not break him, and trembling like these next few weeks were Knuckles' absolute last.

"They–They told us you don't g-go away when it happens, Sonic, y-you're still there! Wh-When it happens, I'll–I-I'll still see everything he does! H-He'll destroy my soul a-and make me watch it all, a-and I–I won't even feel anything about it, Sonic! I'm not gonna care!"

If there was one thing above everything else that Sonic knew about his friend, it was that Knuckles rarely expressed his own fear or sadness in any serious context. He could only imagine how devastating the idea of all this had to have been for the big guy if he was openly collapsing and practically begging for this not to happen to him. His hand squeezed his friend's collarbone tightly to help Knuckles re-ground himself back in reality.

"Hey, hey, easy, buddy, it's gonna be okay. Even if that mystic junk the echidnas talked about is true, we're not gonna let you turn into that, okay? We're not gonna let it happen."

Knuckles briefly glanced up to him, and the second Sonic caught sight of the fear in his friend's pure, good-natured eyes, his concern hardened into brave resolve. He HAD to instill any amount of bravery and drive into Knuckles that he could. Knuckles sniffled once more before he just leaned forward to hide his face into Sonic's shoulder and just melt into a wave of new, unrepressed sobs that had a need to be released; sloppy apologies were messily ladened into his sobs, only half understandable by an untrained or unfocused ear. Sonic didn't need to press further to understand Knuckles' position, and as his hands found his shoulders to pat, he wouldn't dare tell him to man up and get over it. This was a fear and terror unlike anything he'd ever seen anyone exhibit, let alone his closest, most proud-of-himself friend. This was one of those times he just had to let this happen for Knuckles' sake, if only to let him exhaust himself to calm down.

Once Knuckles got this out of his system, it was time for the pep talk, and time to get to work.

* * *

The rain had finally rolled over by the time Knuckles finally calmed down, so when Knuckles shooed him out to clean himself up and gather a few things to get to work on dealing with this whole Sihil/Hanil situation, Sonic took to wandering around the garden as he relayed the story Knuckles told to the others via communicator. While he normally would have felt relief of the sun's rays drying the soaked earth and warming his chilled bones, it felt almost like Mother Nature taunting him with the idea of happier thoughts during an intense crisis.

Amy and Tails were both silent for a good thirty seconds or so, doing their absolute best to absorb everything they just heard.

"I... I-I can't believe it..." Tails finally murmured in shock and disbelief. "I... It's astounding. I had no idea he'd be hiding something like this from us... I mean, he didn't tell us about his parents, who are alive and have a good relationship with him. I thought he just didn't feel like talking about it."

"He wants us to come over to his place...?" Amy repeated the last thing Sonic mentioned in his recount with a soft, overwhelmed sigh.

"Yeah, uh... once he calmed down, he said he had an idea about where we might be safe from-"

"We?" Tails suddenly interjected with a new strike of nervousness in his voice. "We need to leave? We're not safe either?! Why?!"

"If this whole thing is as serious as he says, and it sounds like it is, Knuckles probably won't be the only one at risk. He's pretty sure they might come looking for us to get to him, or they're at least willing to take us out to get to him," Sonic reiterated with a frustrated shake of his head, careful to step over a row of gardenias before stepping over the rocks to approach the closed stable curiously. "You can track me through the communicator, right?"

"Yeah, I'm working on the repairs for Knuckles' communicator as we speak. I'll bring it on my way over there," Tails confirmed as Sonic could hear the faint hissing of a small repair laser on the other end.

"I'll bring over my artifacts and my translation notes to have him check for anything relevant or significant," Amy reported sternly from her own end in a different room in the workshop. "So, what were you saying before Tails interrupted you?"

"I was only saying that Knuckles mentioned that he knows a place where we'll be a little safer, and where we'll definitely get more answers on how to tackle this," Sonic repeated with a short snort through his nose as he tried to listen closely through the wood and find out what was on the other side; either the things in there were very quiet, or there was nothing in there at the moment.

"If I'd wager a guess, it's either Angel Island or Albion," Tails murmured half-mindedly through his work.

"You guys keep mentioning that name, Albion." Just about everyone jumped and cried out when they overheard Sticks suddenly pop in from nowhere from Tails' end of things. "Where is that?"

"Sticks, don't sneak up on me like that! You just about gave me a heart attack..." Tails scolded sharply.

"Aren't you a little young to be worrying about heart conditions like that?" Sticks teased.

"YES, so don't do that!"

"Albion, Sticks, is the capital city for the entire echidna race. Unlike most other races that spread out and inhabit a variety of cultures, echidnas developed into a closed society of their own. It's at the southern borders of the Eastern Continent," Amy dutifully explained.

"Oh. By the way, I couldn't trail down those spies from before," Sticks continued without much care for the explanation. "But I heard through the windmill that they disappeared somewhere around the north beach. My guess is teleportation of some kind, because I scanned the shoreline and there is no way they could have just vanished without any kind of boat or aircraft."

"Sticks..." Both Tails and Amy sighed.

"Hey, these guys are echidnas, and we don't know squat about them. At this point, I wouldn't put it past them," Sonic snorted, his ear twitching when he heard the front door to Knuckles' home open. "Oh, here he comes. We'll talk to you guys in a bit!"

He only heard brief confirmation from the three before he hung up and turned around to watch Knuckles close the door, leave the porch and sullenly move through the garden towards Sonic. He'd cleaned up his face well enough, and he had a few bags tucked into his fist, which he promptly put down by the edge of the garden as he bypassed it. In his free hand were four tiny blue booklets; passports, if Sonic could gauge it right. Knuckles stopped in front of Sonic and looked down to him somberly, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he just handed Sonic the four booklets.

"Here," Knuckles said simply in a quiet voice, prompting Sonic to take them.

Sonic took them and flipped through one of them; indeed, they were passports. Flipping through it, he found that the inside back cover had already been stamped with a special seal in bright blue ink; of what looked like an angular sketching of an echidna holding a jewel in their hands. Probably Tikal. Sonic looked up to Knuckles with a perched brow as the older echidna wormed around him to head to the stable.

"You'll need that for where we're going," he sighed as he undid the strong latch and reached around to grab something from off of the inside wall.

"Albion?"

"Y..." Knuckles tripped over his confirmation. He just sighed to himself, and Sonic found a thin silver whistle in his hands, which he blew for a few long seconds before putting it back. It wasn't a sharp sound; loud, but pleasant to the ear. "YOU guys don't have to, I'm the only one who's gotta leave so the Sihil and Hanil clans'll leave everyone else alone-"

"Hey, less than ten minutes ago, I told you that they would have to deal with the squad if they came anywhere near you," Sonic reminded him firmly as he closed the passport shut with his hand, brow tight and gaze intense with his usual confidence and determination. "We're going with you. Whatever crap you're gonna be facing next, you don't have to hide it from us and you don't have to face it alone. We're a team. And that's... junk teammates do, right?"

Sonic's comment finally elicited a weak chuckle from Knuckles, whose hands went to his hips as he smirked down to the smaller hedgehog smugly. Even if it was his usual taunting and teasing, it was nice to see a smirk on Knuckles' face again after all the panic and crying.

"Oh-ho, now we're suddenly a team and not just 'Team Sonic + Four Other Guys'? What happened to 'Mr. Lone Wolf the Hedgehog' we all know and love?" Knuckles teased as he reached over to light poke Sonic's forehead in teasing, laughing when Sonic smacked it away and crinkled his nose at him in a faux pout.

"'ey, I'm a team player when I need to be!" Sonic insisted in an almost childish fashion, his pout trying so hard to curve into a smirk.

"Oh, yeah, totally," Knuckles agreed genuinely at first before clearing his throat and putting the back of his hand against his forehead dramatically. "' _Oh, no, right as I've been captured, I suddenly remember that I'm part of a team! Help me, Knuckles, I can't do this without you!_ '"

"Will you get over yourself?" Sonic shot up with an agitated but half-amused smirk and a soft shove to Knuckles arm, rising heartier laughter from him.

Once their laughter died down, though, Sonic turned around as Knuckles guided him back into the house. On the coffee table now were a few pens, a few wider booklets, some files and folders, a small notepad and, for some reason, a rolled up measuring tape. Knuckles sat down on the sofa, gathering up the materials he had around him while Sonic decided to simply sit down on the recliner.

"What's all this?" He asked, waving a hand open to signal for a pen to be tossed his way.

"I gotta get everyone's entry papers together," Knuckles explained, picking up a pen and overhead tossing it to Sonic. "They don't just let anyone into Albion, ya know. But you won't need to worry about filling any of that out, 'cept maybe for your signature and initials; I need to fill out the primary entry papers myself. I'll worry about that for right now, you just fill out your passport."

"10-4."

* * *

The passport was relatively easy to fill out, save for some ID numbers and official registration nonsense. He briefly asked Knuckles about that, considering Sonic – a wild maverick – was never registered and isn't considered an official citizen of the village, but Knuckles hand-waved it and assured him the registrars at the front gates would get him a guest ID number and such. So Sonic was finished with the passport and had already signed his registration papers when the sounds of a plane's engine dying to silence preceded a soft knock on the front door. Sonic saw Knuckles prepare to stand up, but waved his hand and stood up, zipping over to answer for him.

Of course, as expected, it was Tails, Amy and Sticks stepping up to their front doors. Sonic stepped aside to let them in, and Tails, stepping in, was already looking around and examining the up-to-code environments with awe. Sticks was in without much care for what the home was like, and Amy dashed over to the middle of the room, glancing over the papers and looking around with a pleased expression. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and several books tucked away under her arm. Knuckles shifted his gaze downwards sheepishly at his friends' reactions to what he tried to make a more humble abode.

"Wow, Knuckles! You have an awesome house!" Tails declared excitedly, taking note of the circulating breeze of an air conditioning system. "How come you never wanted us over?"

Knuckles just shyly shrugged as he watched Amy set her things down on the coffee table. She was gracious enough to scoot the papers aside with ginger care.

"Well... I guess it was just weird that all you guys' houses were made out of wood and leaves, and Sticks just lives in a hovel, and mine was all... up to code and had AC, a basement and an attic."

"Having ideal living conditions isn't something to be ashamed of, Knuckles," Amy reassured him in a kinder tone, her eyes trailing to the coffee table and noticing the passports. "Oh, will we need those, Knuckles? I already have an archaeologist's passport-"

"That's good, but these are Albion specific," Knuckles explained quietly, allowing Amy to take the three remaining passports and hand two of them to Tails and Sticks. It wasn't hard to notice the instant panic that caused Sticks' face to tighten sharply "Just fill out everything you can and the registrar'll fill in the blanks later."

"Don't worry, Sticks, I'll help you fill it out," Tails reassured Sticks with a calming pat to her arm, allowing her to release her held in breath. Once she was calm, Tails seemed to continue with an excited murmur under his breath, "I can't believe we're actually going to Albion...!"

Snagging pens, Sticks and Tails took a spot by the inactive fireplace while Amy sat down on the sofa to start filing out the passports. Without another word, Knuckles stood up from his spot to head around the sofa and into the kitchen. Amy opened her mouth to ask where he was going, but Sonic waved a hand, assuring her with his eyes that Knuckles would be right back and directed her attention back to the passport. She nodded and went to her.

The whistling of a tea kettle helped it to click what Knuckles was doing, though Tails had to grab Sticks' arm when she suddenly stood up and drew her boomerang, ready to attack the source of the high pitch. He brought her back down just in time for Knuckles to come out with a tray of tea, setting it down. Knuckles' muzzle flushed a dark, heated color when Amy gasped and put her completed passport down on the coffee table.

"Ooh, Knuckles, you didn't need to go through the trouble..." Amy insisted with a deceptively pleased, flattered tone, taking a saucer and cup of tea despite her words.

"It's a cultural thing," Knuckles murmured softly, taking two other cups and moving to hand them over to Tails and Sticks, who accepted them without much hesitance. "So, uh, Amy...? What's with all the books?"

"I thought it might be a good idea to bring over everything related to echidna history I collected over time and see if any of it might be relevant," Amy promptly explained before taking another sip of her tea, declaring her approval with a content hum. "Mm, delicious tea, by the way."

"Thanks." Knuckles shrugged bashfully before glancing across the books. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to bring some lost stuff back to Albion with us. I'm sure my Dad wouldn't mind going over some stuff with you and Tails. So once you guys are done with the passports, all you have to do is sign your travel papers and we can get going!"

Knuckles hoped his volume would make him sound excited but... it didn't. It only amplified his reluctance to the rest of the group. Tails' writing slowed down before it came to a stop entirely. He bit his lip, wondering if it was a good idea to ask what was on his mind, before turning around to look to Knuckles with confusion and concern announced by a pinched brow.

"Knuckles... you don't sound really excited to go home," Tails pointed out. "And even when your parents visited for the first time last month, you and Mrs. Balthazar talked about Albion like it was really bad. Are you sure it's the safest place to go if it's all that bad?"

"Y-Yeah, Albion's one of the safest, most secure places on the planet!" Knuckles reassured Tails uneasily, though when his forced enthusiasm didn't quell Tails' worry, his risen arms fell along with his chest and shoulders in a long sigh. "It's... just a little complicated. Ya know, I may have keepen Enerjak a secret from you guys, but... it wasn't a secret to my family. Or my people."

"Ignoring the mistake in grammar for the sake of the seriousness of the situation-"

"Well, now you have to point it out, or it's gonna bug me," Knuckles cut Tails off with an agitated look that the smaller fox shrunk under.

"Um... you said 'keepen', and it's actually 'kept'."

"Oh." Knuckles glanced around and looked to the floor with a furrowed brow, as though processing it and filing it away for later. "Okay. Continue."

"Anyway... ignoring that, you mentioned before that you weren't welcome there... Are we having to be smuggled in or something?"

"No, I mean... I'm legally allowed in, and so are you guys with the right stuff, it's just..." Knuckles waved his hands slightly, either not knowing how to explain it or where to start, or just being too uncomfortable to even start. "...most people just don't really like me there, that's all."

Tails and Amy glanced to Sonic with concern and wondering, and Sonic just shook his head and directed them to fill out their passports and sign the papers. Sticks tugged on Tails' arm fervently to get him to redirect his attention back to helping her, and he murmured a small apology as he turned back to help her fill her passport out. Knuckles awkwardly fidgeted in his seat for a bit as an awkward silence washed over the living room, and before long, he stood up and stretched.

"Oh, and, uh... one more thing when you're done..." Knuckles reached to grab the measuring tape, the notepad and a pen as soon as his comment earned everyone's attention. "Going commando is kind of, uh... considered indecent in Albion, so..."

"Oh, no..." Both Tails and Sonic groaned at the same time, Tails' face landing into his palm before Sonic stood up out of the recliner defiantly. "You mean... they're requiring us to wear clothes?"

"Not really just any clothes; Albion tunics," Knuckles explained with a deep wince and a wry smile. "If it helps, the pants are optional if you're wearin' a tunic. The tunic covers enough anyway. But, if you're a guest, you gotta be wearin' something."

Sonic groaned yet again, but willing to comply, he held his arms out parallel, stood up straight and allowed Knuckles to take his measurements, including his back quills. Once Knuckles was done, he jotted down the measurements and came back to Amy, who was closest. Amy stood up from the sofa with a delighted giggle, holding her arms parallel with a tiny excited jitter as Knuckles took her measurements. By the time Tails and Sticks had finished, Knuckles had jotted down Amy's measurements – all of them – waved for the two of them to come over and let him measure them up. Both Tails and Sticks rolled their eyes, but complied none-the-less. Amy was finished with her own passport and had signed the papers by the time Knuckles was finished with both of them, and it only took Tails and Sticks a few seconds to sign theirs.

"Don't worry, I jotted down a few customization notes to make sure you guys are comfortable," Knuckles assured them, his wince softer as he tucked the notepad away and tossed the measuring tape elsewhere. "Welp! I guess that's everything. You guys keep ahold of your passports, I'll take these-" He scooted the signed papers into an open file folder and picked it up to be tucked away against the notepad under his arm. "-and grab a few more things from upstairs, and we should be good to go! Our ride should be here any second."

"Ride? You mean..." Tails watched Knuckles head to the stairs, his ears drooping dejectedly. "...we're not taking the Tornado-2?

"Well..." As Knuckles stopped at the bottom of the stairs, a streak of apology and pain shot across Knuckles' face when he saw the disappointed in Tails' eyes. "...they're kinda iffy about foreign planes and junk, but... I guess as long as I warn them ahead of time, they'll just do a quick search and there won't be much of a problem."

Tails sighed in relief, but before Knuckles could get far, he remembered something and held a hand out to stop Knuckles.

"Knuckles, hang on!" When Knuckles stopped and looked back to him, Tails found the repaired communicator amidst the hammer-space that was the fur of one of his tails and tossed it over to Knuckles. "I repaired your communicator!"

"Thanks, little buddy!" Knuckles saluted to him with a smile after catching the communicator before heading upstairs with newfound excitement. "I'll be right there! I can't wait for you guys to meet Zephyr and Suna!"

Knuckles was gone before anyone could ask who Zephyr and Suna were.

* * *

Knuckles wasn't upstairs for long. Ten minutes later, he came back down with his communicator back on his wrist and a bag slung onto his back over both shoulders. His reluctance seemed to abandon him as he shut off the lights and waved for everyone to follow him out of the house and towards the stable. Of course, when they exited, they found Tails' plane nestled close to the tree line to avoid ruining the garden, and he seemed to look over his shoulder to the plane with worry. Knuckles led the four past the stables and over to the very edge of the cliff, looking up to the skies behind them.

"So, Knuckles... before you ran up, you mentioned someone named "Zephyr" and "Suna". Who are they?" Tails inquired curiously. "Friends of yours?"

"Something like that..." Knuckles sat up and beamed with the purest delight and excitement, waving for someone to come down. "There they are!"

Upon his direction, Tails, Sonic, Sticks and Amy all turned to look over their shoulders to what he was referring to. Respectively, their confusion and curiosity melted into awe, intrigue, suspicion, and amazement as they saw not vehicles swooped down closer towards them, but what appeared to be large airborne animals. Two strong masses took a nosedive towards them from just below the clouds, making duel beelines around them, turning around and flying just barely over Knuckles' head.

When the two creatures finally slowed down to land in between Knuckles and the four, they turned around to find two winged-deer creatures had landed before them; a jet black buck with a white muzzle and underbelly, thick, powerful white antlers and very dark violet wings in between the shoulder blades, and a light cream colored doe with a chocolate muzzle and underbelly, and bright tan wings in the same spot as the buck. Both of them were facing Knuckles when they landed, immediately recognizing him with widened dark brown and bright aqua eyes (respectively) and bleating ecstatically. The doe dashed to him and dipped her head under Knuckles' chin to nuzzle it up to the cheek, while the buck ran behind him to do the same to the top of his head. Overwhelmed by the love, Knuckles burst out into excited laughter as his hands found their heads to pet them.

"Zephyr! Suna! You made it! Right on time, too!"

"I-I... I can't believe it!" Tails' hands found one another in a clasp, his eyes shining with wonder and disbelieving amazement. "They're... They're Perytons! I-I can't believe they're real! I mean—I mean still alive!"

"And a Peryton is...?" Sonic waved a hand as he glanced in between Tails and Amy with a confused yearning for answers.

"An ancient deer creature said to have been the main sources of transportation and clothing by the Ancients," Tails explained as his tails began to swirl in his delight and curiosity, bringing him off of the ground as both the buck and doe turned to curiously examine the four of them. "They supposedly went extinct after the Ancients died out..."

"Nope, we, uh... kinda just hijacked 'em," Knuckles admitted sheepishly before turning towards the two to whistle for their attention. They immediately turned to him. " **De acuerdo, ustedes dos . Las colas se va a volar en su avión después de nosotros. Necesito que ustedes nos llevará de nuevo a Albion, ¿de acuerdo?** "

Both of them seemed to pull back in shock and surprise, and Knuckles shook his head with a soft sigh.

" **Sí, no me gusta tampoco, pero el clan Sihil encontré la isla y tenemos que llegar a un lugar seguro, ¿de acuerdo?** " Knuckles nodded to the others, prompting the buck and doe to look to them. " **Estos son mis amigos. Sonic, Tails, Amy, y Sticks. Tenemos que conseguir que se Albion también.** "

Though uncertain, the buck and doe both looked to one another unsuredly before turning back to Knuckles and nodding in understanding. Knuckles parted to wave for the others to come closer.

"Tails, you can take the plane. Amy and Sticks, you can take Suna here," Knuckles instructed as he gave the doe, Suna, a stroke against her side as he briefly watched Tails nod and rush off back to his plane.

Suna leaned closer to sniff Amy and Sticks curiously; Amy giggled while Sticks opted to sniff her back. Suna snorted in her face mid-sniff playfully, triggering a startled cry and Sticks' hands to rub her face before Amy stabilized her with hands-to-shoulder. Suna bleated in what could almost be perceived as a laugh.

"And Sonic, you and me can take Zephyr." Knuckles stroked the Zephyr's neck as the buck leaned to sniff Sonic curiously, almost as though he were inspecting him.

"Uh..." Sonic stiffened as he allowed Zephyr to sniff him. "Ya sure I can't just take the plane with Tails?"

"Aw, c'mon, Sonic, it'll be fun!" Knuckles pleaded in a soft, childish pout as he stroked Zephyr's neck. "And Zephyr's a good sport, he can make the flight exciting! C'mon, please...?"

"Oh-OH, come on, Knux, not with the face...!" Sonic tried to refuse as he looked away from Knuckles' effective puppy-dog pout, and one or two glances finally chipped away at his resistance. "Ugh... Alright, fine, if it'll make you finally put the puppy-dog eyes away..."

"Great! Hop on!" Zephyr seemed to remember something and he nudged his head against Knuckles' to get his attention. Knuckles looked to him curiously and Zephyr bleated over to the stables as though referring to something. It took Knuckles a second for it to click. "Oh, right! The reins! Hehe... We need those."

Knuckles parted from an amused pair of Perytons for a few brief seconds as he cut into the stables, coming out with two sets of reins for both Suna and Zephyr, and the silver whistle hanging from a white cord around his neck. He helped slide the rein harnesses up to the very top of their muzzles and threw the handling lengths over their heads (even Zephyr's antlers) to land on their backs. One the reins were secure, both Zephyr and Suna knelt down to allow their respective passengers to get on. Amy and Sticks were on Suna's back in a matter of seconds; Amy at the front, Sticks clinging to her from behind. Knuckles promptly climbed on and waved for Sonic to sit in front of him. Sonic fidgeted in his hesitance, but glancing up to see Knuckles patting the black haired space in front of him made him realize how little of a choice he had. He sighed and reluctantly pulled himself onto Zephyr's back, comfortably nestled in between Knuckles' front and the back of Zephyr's neck.

As the two Perytons stood up, the engine to Tails' plane roared to life. Their wings flexed and stretched before the both of them trotted a fair distance away from the edge of the cliff, turning towards it. Their hooves dug into the ground as though preparing themselves for take-off.

"So, uh, Knux...?" Amy called over as she finally grabbed ahold of the reins and looked across to the edge of the cliff nervously. "How long will this flight be?"

"Only a couple hours! Zephyr and Suna are crazy fast!" Knuckles grabbed the reins and stared ahead to the cliff with fierce determination. "And don't worry about falling or losing the reins! These guys are professionals! And when you're ready, just say what I say: **Para el cielo , Zephyr!** "

Sonic anxiously clung to the foreign creature as Knuckles snapped the reigns and Zephyr kicked off the grass to get a running headstart towards the cliff. Caught off guard, Amy snapped the reigns and called out, "Para el cielo , Suna!" Not with the exact dialect and accent, but Sunna understood it well enough to kick of and get a running headstart too.

Sonic had flown a billion times, but there was something about the unpredictability of a strange animal that made his entire body clench and his arms tighten around Zephyr's neck when the buck finally kicked off of the rock and fluidly soared into the afternoon skies, his mate close behind him with the girls as Tails' faster plane very rapidly caught up with them. Zephyr and Suna pulled up to just below the clouds as they turned around to head East, Tails keeping up with them as he flew overhead.

Knuckles' laughing reverberated through the back of Sonic's head, and somehow, hearing his joy after the massive sobbing panic attack Sonic helped him through a little under an hour ago helped Sonic's muscles to loosen and relax. He tilted his head back to look up to Knuckles, who looked down to him with a broad smile stretched across his muzzle in spite of his misgivings to going home.

"Hey, Zephyr's trained in aerial sports," Knuckles chuckled as his smile turned to a smirk. "On our way to Albion... you wanna do something stupid?"

Was Knuckles trying to set Sonic, and himself, at ease, or was he just trying to stall again? His brow furrowing for half a second, Sonic couldn't tell... but once the other half of the second passed, his body relaxed and his hands tightened around Zephyr's neck.

"Do you even have to ask?"


End file.
